Software application users often encounter issues, such as cryptic error messages, unclear interface specifications, and so on, with one or more applications they are utilizing. At times, the documentation supplied with an application, whether in hardcopy or electronic form, may be incorrect, or at least may not provide enough detail to alleviate these issues.
As a result, a user may consult any number of online, web-based sources available over the Internet, such as online user communities or chat forums associated with the application of interest, customer support websites operated by the provider of the application (e.g., support web pages providing preexisting documentation), and the like. In some situations, the user may be able to retrieve helpful information that already exists from these online resources. If such preexisting information is not available, the user may pose a question to a website, community forum, or the like, to which the initiating user hopes to receive a response from another user that helps the user solve the issue. In these examples, the other user may ask the initiating user some targeted queries to determine more about the initiating user's particular application environment. Moreover, a dialog may occur between the two users, resulting in a potential solution to the initiating user's issue.
In yet other examples, a user may call a customer support phone line operated by the provider of the application to provide information regarding the issue involved in the hope that the customer support representative may be able to provide the user some information leading to resolution of the problem.
In each of the above scenarios, resolution of the issue may require a significant amount of time and effort of the user and other parties involved.